Hitching-post.



No. 68l,|29. Patented Aug. 20, I901;

J. M. MATTHEWS.

HITCHING POST. Application fildIDac.4 1 (No Model.)

' 39 1! I I '0 4 JIIM.

UNITED STATES PATENT Grinch.

JAMES MORRIS MATTHEWS, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXA S.

HlTCHlNG-POST.

. SPECIFIGATIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 681,129, dated August 20, 1901.

I Application filed December 4, 1900. Serial No. 38,715. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES MORRIS MAT- THEWS, a citizen of the United States, and :1.

resident of San Antonio,Bexar county,Texas, have invented a Hitching-Post for Horses, which with itsconnections is new and novel and an improvement on Charles Lees patent, No. 564,330, issued July 21, 1896, and which patent I now own.

This invention relates to devices for holding horses when hitched to a vehicle to prevent their running or walking away and also to prevent grazing.

The invention consists in the details of construction and in the arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter more fully seti'orth and claimed.

In describing the invention in detail reference will be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, wherein like characters denote corresponding parts in the several views, and in which The extremities c ofthe bars extend beyond the loops and are designed to be embedded in the road-bed on which the vehicle is standing. The cross-bar has journaled ends d, pivoted in the clip-straps e, (but one of which is shown.) The plate f is designed to be secured to the bottom of a vehicle-body over to j the right of the transverse center just under the edge of the seat, with a large opening g and a'reduced opening g in the plate directly ll s toward the center. The plate 72. is for the same purpose, but is secured at the transverse center of the vehicle-body. The last-named plate has a central openingt and narrower openings j, leading therefrom. The lugs k,

which are struck from the metal plates, are

bent upward, while the remainder of the metal struck out in producing the openings is turned down and curved back to form rounded surfaces to avoid friction on the straps.

tend continuously from the hitching-post to the horses mouth, thereby dispensing with the grapple. It can also separate at the plate into two straps, passing one on each side of the dashboard, thereby preventing the horse from turning. In case I use two straps then I use plate h, as shown in the drawings, passing each strap into the narrow slots j 011 its respective side.

no shows the attachment with which to grapple the lines. It is made of heavy steel wire or of alight rod so bent as to form a loop 0, into which the strap is buckled. Thence the two wires lay parallel, approximately four inches, at which point they are bent at an acute angle, thence three inches more parallel, forming jaws, and then the ends diverge sufliciently to permitthe free admission of the lines. To grapple the lines with this de vice, hold the grapple erect with jaws upward, pointing toward the horse. Lay the lines fiat together and draw them between the two wires of the grab, down past the angle which forms the jaws, and then with the horse end of the lines wind them once around the shaft of the grapple and draw them upward between the jaws. This grapples the lines so firmly that they cannot slip, and the horse with his tail cannot shake it loose. The lines never get foul or become chafed or worn.

it 7Z2 show what I designate as buttons, which are made by putting a small bolt through the strap, with the head of the bolt tight against the strap on one side and the not hard against it on the other side. The button h is put through the strap at a point where, if the hitching-post is pulled up hard against the coupling-pole, this button willjust come through and above the plate f. Then slip the strap into the narrow slot of plate, and the lugs will prohibit the button hfrom working back into the large opening 9, and

the button cannot pass through the narrow slot, and the hitching-post is thereby securely held suspended while traveling. The button -h is at a point just beneath the floor of the vehicle when the hitching-post is on the ground. The strap is again passed into the narrow slot of the plate. When the lines are grappled, the strap passes at an angle from this slot to top of dashboard and that makes it impossible to shiftit past the small lug on edge of slot into the large opening g. The horse cannot pull the button through the narrow slot. Therefore he cannot lift the hitching-post off the ground so as to walk or run away, nor can he put his head to the ground to graze.

Figs. 6 and 7 show another design of hitch ing-postintended for use in cities where there i tached to the yoke, a plate having lugsand an opening fitted on. the bottom of the vejhicle-body, a grapple on the end of the strap and stops on the strap, substantially as described.

is much paving; also, on cutters or sleighs in winter. It consists of a triangular-shaped hitching post similar to Fig. 5 and connected with the vehicle in the same manner; but the V-shaped rods are spread apart at the lower en dto admit a spool n, as shown in Fig. 6. At the point where this'spool is hung these rods deflect, so as to strike the ground in advance of spool. The strap m is connected withthis spool or cylinder to be wound thereon under certain conditions, forassoon as the vehicle passes over the hitching-post, so it will incline rearward, the spool comes in contact with the road-bed, and the friction of said tionsn to increase the friction.

Having fully described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In a hitching device, a yoke pivoted to a vehicle, a drum carried by the yoke, a grapple comprising a wire bent to form a loop and having diverging ends to engage the reins, and a flexible connection from the drum to the grapple.

2. In a hitching device, a yoke pivoted to a vehicle, plates on the bottom of the vehiclebed, said plates having apertures, a strip connected to the yoke and run through the aperture of one of the plates, stops on the strap adapted to engage the plate and a grapple on the strap for engaging the reins.

In a hitching device, a yoke, a strap at- 4. In a hitching device for horses, a yoke pivoted to the vehicle and having its ends con- ;verged and adapted to engage the road-bed, iplates having apertures fitted on the button 99 of vehicle-bod y, a strap connected to yoke .and operating through said plate, means for connecting the strap to the reins and stops on the strap for engaging the plate-as and for %the purpose described.

contact rotates the spool, thereby windin g the strap or reins thereon and increasing the tension' on the horses mouth. The flangesof the spool are provided with numerous projec- JAMES MORRIS MATTHEWS.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL W. WHITE, LM; LIPsooM'B. 

